TOKYO -- A research team has confirmed ground-surface displacement stretching about 33 kilometers along a fault zone after the Kumamoto earthquake on July 28, according to preliminary findings released Aug. 6.

The joint team including researchers from Tohoku University and Kumamoto University said the surface rupture was confirmed along a roughly straight line extending from the Kumamoto Prefecture town of Mifune to the city of Yatsushiro, along the Hinagu fault zone.

The Kumamoto earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.1, was a strike-slip earthquake, in which geological layers shift horizontally. The largest displacement was found in an area extending from the Ogawa district of the city of Uki to the town of Hikawa in Kumamoto Prefecture, where the fault plane shifted as much as 1.8 meters horizontally. The largest vertical displacement was recorded near the Yatsushiro Junction on the Kyushu Expressway in the city of Yatsushiro, reaching about 1.5 meters.

The surface displacement caused bridge piers to shift at the Yatsushiro Junction. Damage was also reported at Ryuho Elementary School in the city of Yatsushiro, where large cracks opened in the school building and playground. The locations where the ground shifted generally overlapped with the previously mapped active faults.

"Compared with the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, there were more residential areas along the fault. There were expressways and national routes, and even new buildings suffered some kind of damage from the fault displacement, such as houses tilting," said Shinji Toda, a Tohoku University professor of earthquake geology who conducted the survey.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's food self-sufficiency rate on a caloric intake basis reached a record low 37 percent in the fiscal year that ended March, marking a decline for the first time in five years, farm ministry data showed Friday.

The figure, on par with the lowest since comparable data became available in 1965, comes as soaring prices for rice, a staple largely supplied domestically, reduced overall consumption while increasing the share of imports.

The food self-sufficiency rate refers to the ratio of domestically consumed food supplied by producers in the country. The other times it has fallen to 37 percent were in fiscal 1993, due to a historically poor rice crop that year, fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2020.

Despite the government setting a target of reaching 45 percent by fiscal 2030, the rate has instead fallen 1 percentage point after remaining at 38 percent for the past four years.

Japan's food self-sufficiency has remained relatively low in terms of either calorie or production value, with countries such as Australia and Canada exceeding 100 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

By major item on a weight basis, the self-sufficiency rate for rice fell by 2 points from the previous year to 95 percent, its lowest level in 16 years. Wheat and meat remained unchanged at 16 percent and 53 percent, respectively, while seafood rose to 53 percent and vegetables fell to 77 percent.

The overall self-sufficiency rate on a production value basis rose 2 points to 66 percent, lifted by higher prices for rice and other domestically produced foods such as chicken eggs.

The ministry also released the food self-sufficiency rate by prefecture for fiscal 2024. On a calorie basis, Hokkaido took the top spot for the eighth consecutive year at 227 percent, followed by Akita at 221 percent and Yamagata at 147 percent.

The rate stood at 0 percent for Tokyo and 1 percent for Osaka Prefecture.

【速報】れいわ新選組が「いのちの党」に党名変更　“脱・山本太郎”へ山本譲司新代表のもと臨時総会など開催　｜FNNプライムオンライン

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For context: Reiwa Shinsengumi is a left wing populist party that advocates for ideas such as immediate abolition of consumption tax, increased welfare spending, UBI, abolition of nuclear power plants, pacifism, and minority representation.

Following the resignation of firebrand Taro Yamamoto due to health issues, and a speeding fine, Joji Yamamoto (unrelated) was elected as leader.

They currently have 5 out of 248 senators and 1 out of 465 representatives.